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Key Senior Living Care Trends in 2019

Has your organization ly adjusted on a patient fully manage how to deliver services in • Supplement revenue sources by iden-
developed a strategy to pre- census which will order to provide just the right level of tifying the residents in your SNF who are
pare for the trends that can become essential for care for each resident. This is different not currently covered by Medicare Part A
impact the senior living managing labor costs from Resource Utilization Group IV, but would benefit from therapy services.
landscape in 2019? and productivity which provides incentives for high vol- • Optimize the reimbursement by
If not, there could be Another option to umes of therapy to maximize payment. ensuring that your patients are being
major operational and finan- consider would be to • Providers can anticipate less demand classified correctly and that your SNF
cial implications. Workforce share staff and centralize for therapists in the SNF setting as a and, by extension your therapy provider,
shortage and payment back-office functions, reduction in total therapy minutes pro- are reimbursed appropriately for each
reform are two of the key allowing care centers to vided is anticipated. This should help resident that you see.
issues which could radically focus on what they do ease labor shortages for qualified therapy
shape the aging care contin- best – high quality resources. Summary
uum. patient care and service. • PDPM is designed to be budget neu- Developing an agile organization with
BY MARC STEIN tral for SNFs. With some therapy dollars competent employee talent will be criti-
Workforce Shortage Impact of Payment reallocated to nursing, SNFs should be cal with the changing demands of a sen-
An ongoing caregiver Reform able to offset the loss in therapy reim- ior living organization’s shift to meet the
shortage and escalating benefit costs has The October 2019 transition to the bursement with higher reimbursement demands of today’s consumer. In addi-
been compounded over the past year by Patient Driven Payment Model (PDPM) for the nursing care that’s already being tion, planning for the impact PDPM will
competitive labor markets. Senior living will demand that providers enhance provided. be an essential element of a SNF’s future
providers will continue to face enormous operational efficiencies and focus on With the proposed October 2019 success. Our recommendations to senior
pressure to recruit and retain workers healthy outcomes. The Centers for implementation date, it’s important to living providers are to re-evaluate your
while staying within budgetary con- Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) start laying the groundwork now for the current talent acquisition process, imple-
straints. With the staffing dilemma grow- payment reform for skilled nursing facil- changes. The following are critical to ment a real time labor management sys-
ing ever more severe, it will become clear ities (SNFs) and home health agencies success under PDPM: tem to have the flexibility to adjust your
that providers need a shift in mindset (HHAs) focuses on replacing therapy- • Reduce costs by having each thera- workforce to be more efficient while
when it comes to workforce. An engaged driven payment with payment that is pist provide more treatment to more meeting the healthcare needs of your res-
workforce is critical to increase employee based on patient characteristics and patients through the use of group and idents, and to implement strategies to
retention, allowing them to enhance the anticipated resource needs during a concurrent modes of treatment. reduce costs and optimize reimburse-
level of quality, customer satisfaction, patient’s stay. PDPM assigns every resi- • Improve the patient outcomes by ment under the Patient Driven Payment
and financial performance. dent a case-mix classification that drives establishing data-driven protocols based Model.
To survive and become more respon- the daily reimbursement rate for that on the clinical evidence to suggest a care
sive to staffing peaks and valleys, senior individual. plan that considers the reimbursement Marc Stein, Principal,
living providers are implementing real- PDPM will impact the delivery of ther- level for each patient and the outcomes WithumSmith+Brown, PC, can be reached
time labor management systems which apy in the following significant ways: model that CMS has embedded into at mstein@withum.com.
allow staffing to be quickly and accurate- • PDPM will require providers to care- PDPM.

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